The invention relates to stereoscopic infrared imagers. In such imagers, two visible images are produced to correspond to two shifted views of an infrared scene. By providing the imager with two displaced optical channels, the observer can more easily judge distances from the observer to observed objects.
Conventional stereoscopic infrared imagers provide two optical channels by providing two complete infrared imagers. Such stereoscopic infrared imagers have two complete sets of input optics, scanners, detectors, amplifiers, displays, and output optics. Such duplication results in a device which is large, heavy, expensive to manufacture, and expensive to maintain.